M A I N   N E W S

Pankaj’s accomplice held
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 5
With the arrest of Dhan Prakash, alias Dhanraj, alias Vicky, a close relative of an MLA of Uttar Pradesh and an alleged missing link in the Phoolan murder case, the Delhi Police today claimed to have inched closer to solving the case.

Vicky, who was absconding ever since the murder, is believed to have been masquerading as Ravinder who was in fact lodged in the Hardwar district jail on July 25, the day of the incident. Apparently the main suspect, Pankaj, alias Sher Singh Rana, was misleading the police right from the time of his surrender in Dehra Dun by maintaining that it was Ravinder who had reportedly fired at and injured the former bandit queen’s personal security officer (PSO) when he tried to stop them from escaping after gunning down Phoolan Devi.

Police sources said it was only after thorough investigations and the description of the suspect provided by the injured PSO and other eyewitnesses that the crime branch sleuths were able to rule out the involvement of Ravinder and zeroed in on Vicky. Also, some of the suspects, including Pankaj , had spoken to him on their mobile phones before and after the killing.

The police said it was trying to ascertain why Pankaj was trying to protect Vicky by misleading the police. Vicky who was remanded in police custody for 10 days after he was brought to the Capital from his village in Roorkee early this morning, was being questioned.

A senior police officer monitoring the investigations said the interrogation of Vicky was vital to ascertain if there was any political motive behind the crime. It was possible that Vicky, with his political connections, had introduced Pankaj to student politics and perhaps financed some of his nefarious activities. The possibility of his being an accomplice of Pankaj in some crimes committed in Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh was not being ruled out.

With his arrest, the total number of persons nabbed so far has reached eight. The others arrested in connection with the sensational slaying include Pankaj alias Sher Singh Rana, Ravinder, Rajbir, Shekhar, Keshav Chauhan, Pravin Mittal, an advocate and an alleged arms supplier, Amit Rathi.

Police sources also claimed that they had picked up some fingerprints from the two weapons which were reportedly used in the killing even though the guns were allegedly picked up from the spot and hidden in the garage of the Ashoka Road residence of Phoolan Devi by Keshav Chauhan, a party worker who was later arrested for tampering with evidence.

The police said these fingerprints will be matched with those of Keshav Chauhan, and also with those of Pankaj and Vicky.

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All-Party Hurriyat Conference leaders Mirwaiz Omar Farooq and Abdul Ghani Lone, who are in Chennai to participate in a South Asia peace conference, addressing newspersons outside the venue on Sunday. Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama lighting a lamp to mark the inauguration of an inter-faith meet in Chennai on Sunday. — PTI photos